TRP: Gavi and Mishka (Truce)
ABBY Day 266, ship to the sanctuary. "Yeah that's interesting huh?" Gavi said in orcish to her new niece. She'd found a wall she could lean on, out of the way from most people, and get herself and Tikva some fresh air. Currently Tikva had a strand of Gavi's hair, and was staring at it, fascinated. "That's my hair. You got some good hair too," she said, gently rubbing Tikva's head. So fuckin' cute. Gavi'd missed this. Tiny babies, so fresh and new. Tikva was, so far, one of the quieter ones. Timur had been a squaller, Griffin-- Well Gavi was gonna do her best to watch out for this little one. Gruumsh wasn't gonna get his hooks in her. She rocked Tikva, humming a lullaby. Yeah. This was good. COYOTE Mishka founded himself wandering listlessly about the ship. He kept trying to distract himself. Keep his mind off the problems humming urgently in the back of his head (Joan was gone, they'd fucking kill her, she wouldn't back down, just like Hansel, and Roddy, what if he stood up for his friends and they killed him too, he'd gotten so brave, what if they gutted him and split him open and Mishka couldn't find him again, what about Amari, what about--) He tried to shut it off and shut it down and barely managed. Fingers itched to pinch, but he made himself not. He found Gavi standing against a wall on the deck and paused delicately, looking at her. He didn't say anything, just rocked back on his heels. "So it's your baby now," he said. ABBY Gavi saw the elf-- the mouthy blonde fuckhead wandering around. Resolved to ignore him, but unfortunately that wasn't shared. "Yep," she said, staring him down. COYOTE Mishka stared at her, stomach tight. He thought about losing his crew, ditching them and then finding out later they were dead. He thought about leaving the Sanctuary and then finding out it had been attacked. He thought about Gavi leaving Griffin behind, thinking he was safer in the Sanctuary. Then finding out later she'd failed to defend him. Someone had taken him and broken him. Before he could quite stop himself, he asked, "You okay?" ABBY Gavi snorted before she could catch herself. "What do you fucking think?" she asked. Tikva looked like she was dozing off. Gavi better keep her voice down-- and for that matter. "Watch your fucking volume, baby's fixing to sleep." COYOTE "Yeah, figured." Mishka spun on his heel to leave, then didn't. Paused. Hesitated, torn. "Hey. Did you fucking-- did you know?" He watched her, eyes sharp. "About Immanuel. Did you know he was gonna pull this shit?" Mishka should've known. Seen it coming. Should've just let Hansel fucking kill them both. ABBY Gavi clenched her jaw, then unclenched it. Better to stay calm, with a baby. "No," she said quietly. More sadly than she meant to. "He fucking... said we needed a new leader. Said it should be me. And I bought it," she said bitterly. "I thought he meant well." She laughed bitterly. "Shows how much I fucking know huh?" COYOTE Mishka struggled for another minute. Then he turned and left again, and didn’t come back for a while. ABBY Gavi watched him go. Good riddance. "Y'know," she said, rocking Tikva lightly. "I'm still workin' on not seeing all elves as the enemy and stuff, but I'm pretty sure I'd still think he was a fucking dick even if he was orc or somethin'." COYOTE Mishka came back in a few minutes with a plate of food: fresh fruit from inland, a hunk of bread and cheese and butter, and a hunk of meat. He stared at her, holding it out, narrow-eyed. ABBY Gavi glanced at it, and then back up at Mishka. "What's all this fucking for?" COYOTE "Food. For eating. I keep track. Of who is and who isn't, because my husband and my boyfriend forget to eat sometimes. And I don't think you have been. And it's hot weather, and we're at sea, and--" Mishka glanced up at the sky. "--and you've got bone rot, so sit down and eat and give me the baby." ABBY Gavi tensed. Had to be careful with the baby though. Narrowed her eyes. "All right then another question: Why do you fucking care?" COYOTE Mishka narrowed his eyes. He chewed on the inside of his mouth. He thought about admitting that he was a normal man with a normal sense of empathy and seeing Gavi suffer bothered him, but that was a secret he'd take to his grave. So instead, he said, "You're friends with Joan, right?" ABBY "Yeah," Gavi agreed. Joan'd talked about Mishka too-- sounded like she liked them. "You gonna tell me you're her friend too so figured you'd better watch out for me and shit?" It did make sense. COYOTE "Ah, yeah. She's ah-- well, the word in elvish is amar, which means... ally, or partner... ah, it's complicated. Anyway, she's... probably not dead, so--" Mishka had to stop a moment, freeze himself over, so he didn't start tearing into himself. She's probably not dead, Mishka reminded himself. She'd be smart enough to keep her head down until he came to rescue her. Surely. "Anyway," Mishka managed to say, "she's probably not dead. So, I think you should stay alive and stay healthy so you can help me rescue her. Yes?" ABBY Gavi studied Mishka for a second. She didn't fuckin' like him. But, they had a mutual friend. And this was in her own self-interest after all. "You ever held a baby before?" she asked. COYOTE "Hahaha. God, no. Who would give me a baby?" ABBY Gavi gave him a look. "If I recall about two minutes ago you asked for mine. No-- I think you fucking told me to give her to you." COYOTE Mishka held out his arm and waggled his fingers at Gavi in the universal sign language gesture for gimme that baby. ABBY Gavi did not like this fucking idea. But she needed to eat, and if fucking Mishka would stay put while she did... this was tolerable. "Don't you dare fucking drop her," she muttered. Carefully she settled Tikva in Mishka's arms, guiding his hands to make sure he'd support her head and shit. Yeah. Good enough. "And don't you dare fucking walk off on me either," she said, taking a step back and watching to make sure Mishka had a good grip. Good enough. "You are gonna stay right here where I can keep an eye on you." COYOTE Mishka settled the baby in his arms. She was surprisingly heavy and awkward to carry. He frowned and did what Gavi said, though, and clung to baby. Oh god. He hadn't thought this part through. He didn't think Gavi would actually give him the baby. He had a baby now. "Uh," he said, suddenly unsure what to do. "So I just-- so do I-- I just, uh, hold her, then, and... uh." ABBY Gavi chuckled lightly, taking her plate and starting to pick at it. "Yep, exactly like that. Don't move a muscle. 'Cluding the jaw ones." Oh she was hungrier than she'd thought-- these fruits and shit were really hitting the spot. COYOTE "Uh. What do babies... Like... Do, anyway?" ABBY Yeah been a bit too much to hope for, him buying that about keeping his mouth shut. "At this age? Sleep and shit mostly. Don't worry, she's got a diaper." COYOTE "Mm. Mhm. Okay. So. If that happens. I just. Hand her back to you?" Mishka fidgeted as Gavi picked at her food. ABBY "Aw you don't know how to change a diaper either?" Gavi smirked. And very deliberately took a very small bite and ate it very slowly. "You know that's not that hard either." Not that Gavi would actually let Mishka, but it was fun to needle him. COYOTE Mishka wrinkled his nose. "What if it... gets on me, though." Or-- oh god. Didn't babies vomit sometimes or something? Oh god. Mishka tried to hold the baby a little farther away from him. ABBY Gavi set her plate aside and moved to take Tikva back. COYOTE Mishka quickly clutched the baby to his chest. "No no no. I've got it. Her. I've, um, got her." ABBY Gavi backed off slowly. "You sure?" Even that small sign of rejection was making her itch to take Tikva back. But every reason Mishka had for convincing Gavi to give her over for a little while was still in effect she reminder herself. Gavi had to take care of herself too. COYOTE "I'm good. I can hold her for five minutes, right? I'm the terror of the-- I've destroyed-- I've killed a hundred-- okay, I admit I have no qualifications related to children, but, ah, still. Holding a... baby. Easy. Got it. Her." Mishka jiggled her a little. He'd seen people do that with babies before. Jiggle them. ABBY Gavi twitched, but he really wasn't doing it wrong... She settled back, eating a little faster this time. "Tikva," she said. "Her name's Tikva." COYOTE "Oh. That's a good name." Mishka eyed her. "Ah, I should, uh..." He paused delicately. He considered apologizing for being an asshole, then blandly decided not to. She didn't deserve it. "Why are you here?" Mishka said instead. "Why are you fighting your brother with us? I don't get it. I honestly wondered for a while if you were just, like, the worst fucking spy ever, but no, it looks like you genuinely are just trying to help us out." ABBY "Hey fuck you," Gavi said on reflex. "My brother's just..." she trailed off. The usual defense stuck in her throat. He'd gotten Griffin killed. (Gavi'd been the one to strike the final blow.) She stared down, tapping her fork against her plate. "I don't fucking know," she finally said. "Right now ya'll... you're getting into the same shit I want to. Different reasons but. Feel like I can play damage control, tagging along." She looked up, staring at Mishka. "I want to help my people. Immanuel said we need a new leader. Fucking... said it should be me. And after that shit back in the temple? I'm just about fucking ready to agree with him." COYOTE Mishka eyed her. "You gonna lead your people on an empire-building crusade too? That it?" ABBY "Fuck no." How much did she want to fucking tell this elf anyway? Tell Mishka, she mentally corrected herself. Then again, maybe if he believed in her cause, he'd help. (Gavi resolutely stamped out the sneering voice asking how much help he'd be.) "I still ain't sure how I'd wanna lead my people," Gavi said slowly. "But this warring, it's costing orc lives, and I've seen where we go when we die. We need to figure out a new way. And shit if I know what that is." COYOTE 8:42 AM Mishka sat down on an enormous hunk of rope. “I know you’re probably not gonna believe me, because I’m a fucking elf and a liar and all that, but... I’m on your fucking side, here. Nobody wants this war. And your people have in fact been fucked with. Royally fucked. My husband Hansel... well. Fair to say orcs have the short end of the stick.” ABBY 9:52 AM "Been trying to get better at that 'fucking elf' thing," Gavi muttered. But... yeah. Her first instinct was to scoff at it. But what about her second one? She studied Mishka a bit. He was married to an orc, couldn't hate her people the same way she'd hated his. "Y'know you were still a real dick for supposedly being 'on my side'." COYOTE 10:0 AM “Well.” Mishka paused. He was going to say you did break my friend’s fingers, but he supposed she’d already been punished for that enough. Besides, Mishka poisoned a guy’s kid once, and that guy forgave him. Maybe Mishka could let the finger-breaking thing go for five minutes. “Well,” Mishka said. “You’re a dick, too. So.” ABBY 10:04 AM Gavi snorted, grinning a bit. "All right, fair enough. Guess we hate each other cause we're both dicks, not so much the whole orc and elf thing." COYOTE 10:07 AM “You’ve got a fucking deal.” Mishka almost stuck his hand out to shake on it, then got that crawling sensation on his skin again, then decided not to. Also, he was holding a baby. “Sorry, I ah.... sorry. For, ah, before.” ABBY 10:08 AM Gavi arched an eyebrow at him. "So you're apologizing, after agreeing on how much we fuckin' hate each other?" COYOTE 10:2 AM “I can recognize I’m an asshole and need to apologize and also think you are an asshole,” Mishka said. “I am capable of that level of perspective. You are an awful creature with no manners at all— much less any clothing sense— and also you served and evil and wretched god who hurt my husband— and normally I’d poison your breakfast and toss your body overboard in the middle of the night for some unlucky shark to eat, then lie and tell everyone you jumped overboard—“ Mishka had considered this. “But unfortunately it looks like I need you right now, so—“ He kept jiggling the baby, because he was nervous. Suddenly the baby burped, and something hot and wet splattered across Mishka’s back. He screamed, a little. ABBY 10:36 AM Gavi was up and taking Tikva back, cuddling her and checking she was okay. She was, it was just fucking Mishka and being bad with babies. "If you're gonna burp her it's handy to put a cloth over your shoulder so you don't have to change clothes after," she said, amused. She had one of those handy for her little baby-bag and fished it out to burp Tikva properly. COYOTE 10:41 AM “Burp her? How do you— what do you mean, burp her? Don’t they burp on their own? I was just jiggling her. Babies like to be jiggled, right?” ABBY 10:54 AM Gavi snorted. Yep showed how much he knew. "Am I supposed to thank you for not murderin' me?" she drawled. "Cause I ain't gonna. I've always done what I thought was right. Changed my mind recently and got a new judge of what's 'right'. Maybe I might apologize to some over how I was before. But I don't like you enough to think you're one of 'em." Gavi gave Mishka a mean little grin. "Also who the fuck thinks fashion sense is a worthy insult?" COYOTE 10:58 AM Mishka scoffed. He peeled off his outer tunic and dropped it. “First of all, woman,” he said, “I didn’t ask you to thank me for not killing you or ask you to fucking apologize.” ABBY 11:01 AM "Oh look at that Tikva, he's got some sense after all." COYOTE 11:04 AM Mishka’s eyes narrowed. “Twice as much as you.” ABBY 11:07 AM "Aw, I think I spoke too soon." Gavi said, staring at Mishka and smirking. God, he was so fun to rile up. COYOTE 11:08 AM Mishka kicked his legs on the rope. “Hey, I’ve got a question. How many elves you kill? You spent a long time hating them?” ABBY 11:1 AM "Thirty-three years," Gavi said. It gave her a pang. Even without the rot that was half her life. "And how am I supposed to know? I didn't fucking keep track. A lot." COYOTE 11:11 AM “Why?” ABBY 11:14 AM "Cause!" Gavi felt Tikva burp again and re-settled the baby against her chest. "It was fucking hard too all right? I had a lot of shit to keep track of and didn't seem important to tally off the bodies I left behind." COYOTE 11:16 AM “No,” Mishka said, settling down a little. He felt... bad for her. “I mean— why did you hate them? Why did you kill them? I’m honestly just... asking.” ABBY 11:24 AM Gavi gave a soft sigh, looking down at Tikva. Gavi'd been born into a harsh world. She'd fought and fought to make it better for her children, her nephews, her nieces. How much better would it be though? How much had Gavi lessened the suffering Tikva would have to face? "Because I saw what they did. Or what I was told was them. Not like all of it was fucking Immanuel and his golems though." She looked up. "You ever wanna go visit some of your kin, your people, but when you get there the whole camp's been razed through and slaughtered? You ever hear kids crying in hunger and knowing that if we had better fucking land we'd be able to grow enough to feed 'em? Cause the beginning and ending of all our fucking problems was the fucking elves." COYOTE 11:27 AM Mishka curled his legs up to his chest and folded his arms over them. He didn’t say anything. None of that had ever happened to him, no. He was pampered and sheltered until he decided to run off. He never went hungry and he still felt sorry for himself enough to leave. “I’m sorry,” Mishka said again, after a long pause. “I know you don’t give a shit. But... I’m sorry.” ABBY 11:3 AM Gavi eyed him for a second. She believed him. Wasn't sure what to do with that, but she believed him. "Yeah well," she said gruffly. "You do give a shit, and... that'll help my people. I'll take it." COYOTE 11:53 AM Mishka wasn’t sure what else to say. So he said, “I don’t give a fuck about ‘my people’ as in the elves in Alabaster. I was never a proper elf and I doubt I’ll ever be. But if you do shit that helps my people as in my people here, I suppose we’re good.” ABBY 12:05 PM Gavi thought about that for a second. She knew where her priorities lay. But for now, everybody on this boat wanted to stop the war. "I know ya'll are tight around here. Family and shit," she said slowly. "I've already got one, and you ain't it. But I can say this much: long as I'm sticking around, I'll help out. If I live long enough, and see a way to help my family more somewhere else, I'll be leaving. But I'll make sure not to stab you in the back on my way out. Fair enough?" COYOTE 12:06 PM Mishka offered her his hand this time. “Fair enough.” ABBY 12:12 PM Gavi shifted Tikva so she could shake it. "By the way, you're still a dick." END ABBY at 1:04 PM Title: Truce Summary: Gavi and Mishka get on each others nerves, talk about the situation the orcs are in, and agree they are on the same side and they need to help each other out. This does not make them friends. Category:Text Roleplay